A Second Life- Christmas Cheer
by everdreaming3
Summary: One-shot from A Second Life universe. The holidays are approaching, and Brittany and Santana take the twins on a last minute shopping excursion. Only they run into the last person they ever expected to find. A view into the life of the Lopez family.


"Britt, can you take the diaper bag please?" I asked my wife.

She turned to me, pulling the diaper bag off of my shoulder as I adjusted Declan in my arms. She put the bag in the bottom of the stroller where Norah was sleeping, much to our relief.

It was two days before Christmas and we were at the mall, just like everybody else in the known world it seemed like. We had let ourselves get overwhelmed with the holiday season this year, and before we knew it the day was almost upon us and we had only bought presents for the kids and each other. Though, in our defense, it was the twins' first Christmas that they could really do anything since they were now a year old, so we were really excited about getting things for them instead of buying things for our friends and family.

Needless to say, however, we were a little stressed now that we were shopping for last minute gifts along with the rest of the city.

"Did you wanna put D back in the stroller?" Brittany asked.

I shook my head, rubbing our son's back as he snuggled more into my neck. "No, he is comfortable here and I don't want him to fuss if I put him down. We just need to move as quickly as we can and get out of here before Norah wakes up and freaks out from all of the noise."

"God, why did we procrastinate on shopping this year?" Brittany whined, turning back to push the stroller through the crowd.

"Because we went overboard buying toys and stuffed animals for the kids even though we both know they will have more fun with the wrapping paper and boxes and completely forgot about everyone else," I answered.

"Oh yeah," my wife said, scrunching up her nose in remembrance. "Although, I did not forget about you."

I chuckled. "I know you didn't, babe. You never do. And I didn't forget about you, either."

She smiled lovingly at me. "I know you didn't. You've been acting sneaky for the past month, so I know you got me at least one thing."

I shrugged. "It might be more than one thing," I teased.

"I don't even care because you've already given me the best presents ever," she said.

"Awww," I cooed, leaning in for a kiss which she happily gave. "You're so cheesy. I love it."

She laughed, rolling her eyes as her cheeks tinged a little with embarrassment at me calling her cheesy. "Well, you married me so I'd have to say that you would have to love my cheesiness."

"I love everything about you, cheese included," I stated.

Declan whimpered a little as we passed the large crowd of people around the area where Santa was. Meeting Santa had not gone very well for the kids a couple weeks earlier. Declan was fine to start with, a little mesmerized by the strange, hairy man holding him. But Norah was having none of it. She threw a fit immediately after being put in a stranger's arms, and her screaming scared her brother. He started crying at his sister's distress, and both of them ended up traumatized by Santa.

It seemed that he was still feeling a little afraid of the jolly man, so I rubbed his back soothingly and murmured comforting nonsense to him as we walked past.

"Maybe we shouldn't have walked by Santa," Brittany said, a worried look on her face as she looked at our son.

"He's okay," I assured her. "Just be glad that Norah is still sleeping."

She gave a little laugh. "Yeah, we don't need to leave the mall because of her screaming again. We have way too much shopping to do."

I murmured an agreement. I hated that we let ourselves forget about all of the shopping we had needed to do for everyone else. We hadn't even been that bad last year, and Brittany and I were both still kind of recovering from our hospital stays and trying to adjust to having newborn twins in the house. Although we did have a little help from her parents and from Gabe, who stopped by when he could. Needless to say, we did a lot of online shopping last year, but we at least had it all done and everything wrapped the week before Christmas.

We made our way into a department store and headed straight for the tools section. Brittany's dad had gotten more into woodworking over the past couple of years, especially after making the rocking chairs for the twins. We decided to get him some things to help with his hobby, including a better wood burning kit for the intricate designs he liked to make. After we picked out some tools we thought would be useful, we decided to head to the men's section.

Shopping for my brother was usually pretty easy for me. I knew I could always buy him some clothes since he liked looking good and typically needed to be well dressed as a hockey player for interviews and stuff. He usually asked me for advice on clothes anyways, so I knew he would appreciate me picking out some shirts and slacks for him. I went straight for the colors that looked best on him while Brittany took Declan from me so I could use both hands.

Our son settled into his mama's arms and rubbed his nose against her shoulder. She cupped his head and pressed a gentle kiss to his hair as she murmured words too soft for me to hear. I smiled at the beautiful picture before turning back to my task. After I had picked out a few shirts and a couple of pairs of pants, we started to walk towards the home goods section. Before we made it too far, however, I saw a remote control helicopter that I just knew Gabe would have fun with, so I added that to our growing pile of gifts.

I pushed Norah in the stroller, which now was heavier with holding the things we were going to purchase, and we finally got to the next area of the store we needed. Brittany's mom had mentioned wanting new cookware, so we picked out a top of the line set of pots and pans and got her brand new cooking utensils as well. She was all set.

Since we were by the kitchen things, I got some new baking supplies for Kyle. I knew that he had top of the line stuff at his shop, but he tended to ignore his stuff at home and just go to the shop to bake personal stuff. Maybe if he had some nicer, higher quality things at home then he wouldn't have to go to the bakery all of the time.

Those were all of the things that we wanted to buy here, so we stood in line for what seemed like forever and paid for our purchases. What really sucked was that we now had too many things to keep shopping without going back to the car first, so we had to go all the way back out to the parking lot to drop things off. This procrastinating thing really fucking sucked. I made a mental note to never let this happen again.

We reentered the mall with Declan back in the stroller and a cranky Norah, who was now awake. I could tell Brittany was getting a little stressed from the crowd and the fact that we had shopping still left to do. I could also tell she was getting a little tired from all of the walking we had already done.

"You doing okay still, babe?" I asked, grabbing her hand to stop her walking for a moment.

She halted and turned toward me, resting her hand on mine which was on the stroller handle. "I'm okay, San," she offered with a little smile. "Just want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Tell me about it," I said with a laugh. "There are way too many people here for my liking."

She smiled and we started walking again. "Game store next, right?" Brittany asked.

I nodded, and we went to the video game shop. It was a small store and there were so many people in there, so I told Brittany I would stand outside with the stroller and wait while she went to pick out the video game Chase wanted. She nodded and gave me a quick peck before heading inside. I moved over to a bench nearby and sat down, turning the stroller towards me so I could see Norah and Declan.

Declan was babbling happily and playing with his little stuffed dog that we always brought for him when he had to be in the stroller. I smiled at the fact that he was clearly pleased with what he was doing, and turned to look at my daughter. She had a scowl on her face and the hint of tears pooling in her eyes, her own stuffed bunny completely ignored by her. She was not a fan of the noise and the crowds and the instant she saw my face looking at her she reached for me with the biggest pout. She had Brittany's pout, I could swear, and I immediately melted.

"Aww, baby girl," I cooed. "Come on to mami."

I unhooked her belt and pulled her out, bringing her against my chest. I ran my hand through her hair, which had darkened considerably since she was born. It was a light brown now, an almost caramel color which I adored on her with her blue eyes. She snuggled into me, calming a little, though she was still sniffling some.

"You're okay, Norah," I said quietly, breathing in her scent as I kissed her head. "We'll get out of here soon, I promise."

"Santana?" The voice broke my focus from my daughter and I snapped my head up to find the last person I expected to see here.

"Courtney? What are you doing here?" I asked, my arms involuntarily tightening a little on Norah. I don't even know why I tensed up by my ex's presence. I couldn't even care less about her anymore, and I hadn't even seen her since before Brittany and I got married. I figured maybe I was just used to unpleasant interactions with her that I expected nothing better.

"Oh, you know. Just doing some last minute shopping," she said with a little laugh. "Same thing you are, I assume."

I gave her a little smile, shifting Norah as she pulled at my hair a little. I grabbed her hand to stop her from yanking it, and the action caught Courtney's eye.

"Is she yours?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I quit my job and I'm a nanny now," I snapped. "Of course she's mine."

Courtney looked almost hurt by my response. "Sorry, that was stupid," she apologized. "I had heard something about you having a baby, but it was kind of through the grapevine so I didn't know for sure. I should have known though, because she looks just like you."

I smiled in spite of myself at the thought of my babies looking like me. "Well, I think they look a little like their mama, too, but most people say they look like me," I said.

"They?" Courtney asked, her brow scrunching a little in confusion.

I tilted my head toward the stroller and turned it a little with my foot so Courtney could see Declan. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Brittany's and my son.

"Oh my God, twins?" Courtney asked, a pleasantly shocked smile crossing her face. "He is so cute, Santana! They both are!"

Okay, this was weird. I knew my babies were like the cutest kids ever, and they were fawned over all of the time. But this was my ex who was doing it, and she had never really had a kind word to say about me and mine before.

"Thanks," I told her, a little guarded now.

"Hey baby," Brittany said, finally making her way out of the store and toward the bench. "Sorry it took so long."

"No problem, Britt," I answered, relieved to see my wife.

I could tell Brittany had seen Courtney by the tense look in her eyes. But she just walked coolly up to us, putting the bag from the store into Norah's empty seat in the stroller and reaching her arms out for our daughter. I easily passed her over, knowing that she would be happier in her mama's arms anyways.

Sure enough, Norah wrapped her arms around Brittany and I saw the little smile our daughter gave when Brittany rubbed her hand over her back.

"Hey, Courtney," Brittany finally said, turning toward my ex with our daughter firmly in her arms. She offered a little smile to Courtney, who gave a friendly smile back.

"Hi," my ex said. "I was just telling Santana how adorable your kids are."

Brittany's smile turned genuine and she looked between our babies, the happiest look on her face. "Thank you," she said. "They are pretty cute, aren't they?"

"Yeah, it's amazing how much like Santana they look," Courtney replied. "I couldn't believe Santana was willing to carry one baby, much less two."

My hands clenched in my lap and my smile faded. I watched Brittany tense up and a scowl come over her face. Courtney's thoughtless words hurt both Brittany and I more than she could have known.

They hurt me because clearly my ex didn't know me at all. She hadn't even known that I wanted to carry a baby. If she had known me just one bit, she would have known that I dreamed of carrying a baby and having a family since mine was taken away. But they hurt me more because, for anyone to think that I was that shallow to not be willing to carry a baby in my body, or even two, wasn't correct. I loved my kids so, so much, and to imagine not wanting to have them because I liked my body too much the way it was before was unfathomable.

Courtney's words hurt me the most because they hurt my wife. I knew that Brittany would be offended on my behalf by Courtney's insinuations. And I hated that she would get upset over me for that. But I also knew that she would be hurt because of the insult that was implied by the surprise of me carrying our babies over her. For Courtney to think that I was better than Brittany somehow for giving birth to our kids, when Courtney didn't know the pain that it caused me and Brittany to give up on the dream of her being able to carry a child for us.

"Santana loved being pregnant," Brittany said, her voice cold. "And she was the most beautiful pregnant woman I had ever seen."

"Britt, sweetie, it's okay," I soothed as I stood up and rubbed my hand on her arm soothingly.

Courtney's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Oh my God, no," she began hastily, "I didn't mean anything like that. I just meant that it was hard for me to picture her settling down like that."

Brittany didn't relax at all, getting even more offended by the fact that Courtney was still oblivious to the insult of not understanding that I valued and loved family above all else. But I understood what Courtney was meaning.

I pressed a kiss to Brittany's cheek and leaned up to speak quietly into her ear. "I promise, it's okay. She doesn't really mean what you think she does."

Brittany turned to give me a confused look, but I just smiled at her before turning back to my ex.

"You couldn't picture me settling down like that because I never could have settled down with you," I said. "Not only did you not even want that with me, but I think I knew, deep down, that I didn't really want that with you either. We never could have had a family together like Brittany and I have."

Courtney was smiling sadly at me, understanding exactly what I was saying. "You're right. And I am so sorry for being such a bitch to you for so long. I used you, and I wasn't a good person. If I could go back and fix it all, I never would have done what I did."

I heard Brittany's quiet gasp of surprise. I didn't know whether it was my admission of knowing that Courtney and I never really were going to work all along, or if it was Courtney's sincere, heartfelt apology that caused it. But it didn't matter. I knew Courtney had apologized genuinely at our bachelorette party, but I don't think she even knew then the extent of the effects of her behavior. It seemed that wasn't the case anymore.

"Thank you," I told her sincerely. "But honestly, I'm grateful that you did treat me like shit. Because if you hadn't, I don't think I ever would have met Brittany or been able to appreciate and love her the way she deserves. So apology accepted."

Courtney looked relieved, but shot a cautious look over to my wife. I turned to look at Brittany, who was scrutinizing my ex.

"What changed? Why are you regretting it now?" Brittany asked, still unsure.

Courtney opened her mouth to reply when someone called her name. She turned to greet a man who was making his way toward her. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, with a little paunch of a belly and the beginning of a bald spot in his brown hair. He was casually dressed in a green sweater, jeans, and sneakers, which was so unlike Courtney's usual type. The man had a loving smile on his face, and I was surprised to see the same on Courtney's lips.

The man reached Courtney's side and wrapped his arm around her waist. She leaned into him, resting a hand on his back and one on his stomach, and leaned up for a kiss which he happily gave.

"Sorry that took so long, hon," he said when they pulled apart. "I couldn't find the exact one mom wanted at first, and I needed to track someone down to help."

"It's okay," she replied. "Actually, I was just catching up with some old friends. This is Santana, and this is her wife Brittany. And this is my fiancé, Bill."

I knew I looked surprised. I couldn't help it. This was most definitely not the same Courtney I had known. The woman I had known would never been with a guy like this. He was good looking but not the type that she usually would date. And he didn't appear to be dripping with money as the people she would go after before were. What the hell was going on?

"It's nice to meet you," Brittany said, breaking me out of my stupor. I turned to see a knowing smile on her face, and it hit me. Courtney had finally fallen in love. She was able to apologize to me because she was actually guilty now that she knew what a relationship was supposed to be. And Brittany recognized it, and was finally accepting of my ex's apology.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Bill said, a friendly smile on his face. He turned to Courtney with a little question in his eyes. "Isn't Santana the one you were telling me about?"

"Yeah," Courtney said, a guilty look in her eyes. "That's her."

Holy shit. She had told her fiancé about me. She really had matured.

"Then it is most definitely a pleasure to meet you, Santana," he said, extending his hand out to me. I took it, a little confused, and he gave it a hearty squeeze. "Courtney told me all about you, and how you helped her see the mistakes of her past. So thank you for making her the woman that could fall in love with me."

My eyes shot to Courtney, who was looking at Bill like he hung the stars and moon. I chuckled softly. This was truly amazing. Courtney's rejection had helped lead me to the love of my life, and it appeared that our trainwreck of a relationship had helped her to grow up and fall in love with a man that could actually be perfect for her. The best thing was that I was actually happy for her. I had moved on from Courtney long ago, but that didn't mean that there wasn't still some lingering pain over some words she had said or things she had done. But I knew that I was truly over all of it now. Not only did I have Brittany and Declan and Norah, but the past was most definitely the past now.

"I don't know how much I actually had to do with it, but I'm glad you guys found each other," I said honestly, making it clear that my words were for both of them.

They both smiled genuinely at me. Just then, Declan gave a loud giggle, causing all of us to laugh a little and turn our attention to the happy boy.

"And who's this?" Bill asked, giving our son a wave.

"That handsome little man is Declan," Brittany said. "And this gorgeous girl I'm holding is Norah."

"You have gorgeous children," he complimented. "I can only hope that Courtney and I can have children that adorable one day."

Courtney blushed and looked bashfully at the ground while Bill pulled her into his side a little tighter.

"I don't know if anyone could ever have as cute of kids as ours," I said, only a little teasing. "But I think you guys will make adorable babies. And congratulations on your engagement, by the way."

"Thanks," Courtney said, her face still pleasantly flushed.

"Tana, we should probably get going or Norah will start fussing again," Brittany broke in.

I knew she was right. We had been sidetracked for far too long, and we still had shopping to do. I nodded to her, and Bill and Courtney gave us cheerful goodbyes and wishes of a good Christmas. We returned the sentiments and they walked away to continue whatever errands they needed to do.

I turned to Brittany with raised eyebrows. "What the fudge?"

She laughed at my avoidance of the word she knew I really wanted to say but wouldn't around our twins. "That was weird," she said, bouncing Norah a little in her arms since she had started to whimper.

"That's an understatement."

"Maybe just a little," she said. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"That you forgive her and that you're happy for her?"

I met her questioning gaze, seeing her hope that I truly had moved on from the hurt of my past. "I did. And I am," I said truthfully. "It was great seeing her finally find the person she was meant to be with. Just like I found the person I was meant to be with."

Brittany's cheeks flushed in pleasure and she hid her face a little in Norah's hair. "I'm glad," she said quietly.

"Me, too," I said, my lips starting to turn up into a smile as I stepped closer to her. I could see the smile she was trying to hide behind our daughter, and I loved her being all adorably shy about how happy she was about all of this.

I put one hand on Norah's back and with the other I tilted Brittany's chin up so I could look at her in the eyes. "You know you are the only one who I could ever be this happy with, right? That you're the only one I could ever have had all of this with, which is everything I ever dreamed of. I could only ever love you, forever and always."

Her eyes became a little watery and she bit her bottom lip in that adorable way she does when she wants to smile so, so big but is afraid to let it all out. The way she does it always drives me crazy and I want to just kiss her over and over again until she laughs and grins the way she should have. But I couldn't do that in the middle of the mall, so I settled for leaning in and giving her a soft kiss. I could feel her smile against my lips, and I grinned triumphantly.

"I love you, Santana," she said when I pulled back.

"And I love you," I replied. "Now what do you say we go finish shopping so we can get home and have a little Christmas cheer by ourselves?"

She laughed and nodded, and I turned back to Declan and the stroller so we could move onto the next destination. Maybe this last minute shopping thing wasn't so bad after all this year.

 **A/N: So the babies are a year old now :) Looks like their happy little family is doing well, despite their frazzled last minute shopping! Even Courtney couldn't really ruin the happiness, and it looks like everyone is exactly where they should be in the end.**

 **What did you guys think? I know there was more interaction with Courtney than necessarily cute times with the babies, but I wanted to give some definite closure on that side. Plus, show the reasoning behind why Courtney started to mature in A Second Life since she did realize that she was really acting out of line. She still isn't a great person, but she realized her behavior and is working on becoming better.**

 **Anyways! I hope you all enjoyed it, and there is definitely a lot more to come in the future with the Lopez family! And if there is anything you guys would like to see, just let me know and I will see what I can do :)**


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